Transit and getting around

Public transit in Canada is run by the municipality or by a regional authority, not by the province. That is why the agency name, the fare structure and the fare card all change when you cross a municipal boundary — Edmonton’s system is Edmonton Transit Service (ETS).

Service area

City of Edmonton, with regional connections via St. Albert Transit and Strathcona County Transit.

Before you travel

Fares, schedules and service changes are updated constantly and differ by fare zone, time of day and age group. The agency’s own pages are the only reliable source, so these are the links worth bookmarking rather than a table of fares that would be wrong within a season.

• Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) — network maps, routes and news.
• Trip planner — door-to-door journey planning with real timetables.
• Service alerts — the fastest way to find out about a closure or delay before you leave.
• Fares and passes — current prices, day passes and monthly options.

Transit phone numbers

• Edmonton Transit Service (BusLink)780-496-1600

  Listed by the City among the services that sit outside 311; DATS is 780-496-4567 and Transit Watch is 780-442-4900.

  Official page

Paying for transit

Most Canadian systems have moved to a tap card or open payment, and many now cap daily or monthly spending automatically instead of requiring a pass. Accessibility is handled separately from the main network on every system listed here: door-to-door paratransit services usually need registration in advance, sometimes weeks ahead, which is worth doing before you need it rather than after.